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Marisol Chaparro

Professor Beadle

English 115

December 7, 2017

Evolving Fears

Our world today is constantly changing at the speed of light. The world as we know it

changes every day and societies around the world must learn to accept the new discoveries in

both science and technology. There are always new inventions that work their way into our daily

lives. We become accustomed to the new things and even begin to crave the next new, bigger,

and better thing. This is also true with military advances. New weapons are constantly being

invented and utilized in militaries all around the world and as one country creates a new weapon,

their enemy feels the need to make a better one. These weapons have unknown consequences

and could potentially lead to the extinction of the human race. These ever-evolving weapons

have brought along with it many new fears such as the fear of nuclear war and the possible

consequences of nuclear weapons on our environment. The movie Godzilla is different from the

movie Shin Godzilla in one very large way, the monster in Shin Godzilla is able to evolve and

adapt to its environment. This characteristic shows both how the consequences of nuclear

weapons are unknown and could do any type of harm, and how people are afraid of things that

can adapt to their surroundings and seemingly have no weaknesses.

With the movie Godzilla, the fears of the Japanese are made very clear. They are afraid of

the possible effects that the radiation may have on them and their environment. These fears

manifest in the form of Godzilla himself. The radiation from the bombs have created this

seemingly indestructible creature that is only out to destroy the city. This creature is a mutation
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of an ancient species. The Japanese people were very fearful of the mutations that could happen

to those that were exposed to the radiation and the future generations to come. When Godzilla

had been created, little time had passed since the bombs were dropped which meant that the

Japanese had not had much time to study the long-term effects that the radiation could have on

themselves or their environment. The Japanese people needed to be able to turn these fears from

an idea to something tangible. This meant that Godzilla was an easy way to show the fears of the

Japanese people but as time passed and the effects of the radiation was able to be studied more,

new fears surfaced.

These fears included the possible effects of radiation from the bombs on the children of

those who were exposed to the radiation of the bombs. A study conducted by a group of Japanese

scientists over a period of 50 years after the bombs were dropped showed that even though the

people who were directly exposed to the radiation of the bombs continued to develop many

health problems but there seemed to be no effects on their children. Theories such as the

radiation dose that victims received was less than originally thought surfaced and tried to shed

some light on the outcome of the study. This study began to calm the fears of the Japanese

people and therefore allowed the popularity and usage of Godzilla to decline. They began to see

that the effects of the bomb may not be as bad as they originally hypothesized.

Studies like these were created and conducted to calm the Japanese peoples fears after

the bombs. Over time these studies did begin help to slowly quell the uncertainties about the

possible effects of radiation. This may have led to the very beginning of the transition of

Godzilla from a symbol of fear to a common comic book novelty monster such as King Kong.

While Godzilla has stayed relevant in pop culture since its creation in 1954 it has changed

meanings form Godzilla (1954) to Shin Godzilla (2016). Godzilla has become more of a cartoon
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character with a very real cause behind its creation. This is partly due to the way that Godzilla

films have been remade throughout the years.

The filmmaking techniques used in the making of the films has drastically changed

throughout the many films in the franchise. The first film was definitely the most serious, and

while now we see how dated the filming techniques that were used are, at the time they were

advanced techniques that were utilized to make the film seem as real as possible. The biggest

immediate difference between the films is the color. The first film was done in black and white

while the modern version was done in color. This gave the filmmakers of the color version a new

challenge. They had to make sure that the colors of Godzilla helped to further convey that

Godzilla is a monster. The colors that were utilized such as the gray of his skin or the bright

purple of the atomic lasers he is able to shoot out of his body is a very big difference from the

original black and white Godzilla. These new filming techniques such as, filming in color, better

cameras and technology, and computer generated images have also allowed filmmakers to give

Godzilla a new twist.

Filmmakers were able to modernize Godzilla in order to relate more to current fears and

current ever evolving technologies. A difference is seen in Shin Godzilla in the way that the

creature is able to evolve in order to survive in his surroundings. Godzilla evolves into an almost

indestructible creature in only a few days. This modification had to be made in order to keep

people interested in the idea of Godzilla. Because there have been so many remakes of the

producers must make the movie more interesting each time. This has also added to the more

novelty connotation of Godzilla. The constant updates and evolutions of Godzilla come off to the

viewer as a more comic book villain than a monster manifested because of the fears of a nation

left reeling after World War II. This also has led to a fluctuation in the fans of Godzilla.
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When Godzilla was made, it appealed to the masses. Everyone was afraid of the effects

of radiation and saw Godzilla as a way to express them. As the remakes began the fan base

changed as Godzilla became more like a cartoon character. It began to gain a cult following. This

declined during the cold war as more people began to have nuclear war fears again and started up

again in the late 90s. Godzilla has become a prevalent villain in pop culture such as King Kong.

This allows for a fan base shift and an uptick in pop culture references.

We begin to see Godzilla become popular in everyday people again as the cold war

begins. The popularity spreads to other countries besides Japan as more and more threats of

nuclear war are present. The cold war brings these same What if feelings to countries such as

America. The people are scared of the unpredictable and very deadly weapons that many

countries continue to develop. These weapons are unlike any others ever seen and the effects that

these weapons are unknown. These fears allowed Godzilla to continue its popularity. It was a

way for people around the world to manifest their fears into something tangible.

Godzilla has also gained many followers and fans as more of a pop culture icon. It has

become somewhat of a novelty and in many cases, is used more as a toy than a manifestation of

current fears. Godzilla has gained somewhat of a cult following and has become a very large part

of modern Japanese pop culture. This has led to the modern representation of Godzilla in the

movie Shin Godzilla. In the movie Godzilla is portrayed as a shapeshifting and mutating monster

that can shoot lasers out of its body and leaks radiation wherever it goes. This has given it a more

comic book like incarnation. It is seen as an unstoppable villain that only has one purpose, to

destroy everything in its path. This is seen in the constant destruction that the Godzilla in both

Godzilla and Shin Godzilla leave behind. They are also both seen as almost indestructible

creatures.
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In both Godzilla (1954) and Shin Godzilla (2016), the government must come up with a

new type of weapon or a strategy, like the oxygen destroyer or the blood coagulant, that will

destroy Godzilla and halt the destruction he continues to cause to the Japanese people. This

shows another fear in societies around the world, that is, the fear that a bigger and better weapon

must be created to defeat the previous one. This is shown in the use of the Oxygen destroyer that

is developed in Godzilla and the increasingly larger weapons used by the Japanese military in

Shin Godzilla. This use of very destructive weapons is a very prevalent fear in the world today,

especially with our increasingly restless political climate. Nuclear war has become a fear in

peoples minds once again and will eventually lead to a rise in popularity of Godzilla once again.

Although there are many small differences throughout the movies, such as the filming

techniques and the fan base, the meanings behind the films have stayed the same. The films were

created to rationalize the fears of the Japanese people towards the possible effects of radiation.

They continue to be a manifestation of the fear and uncertainty of nuclear weapons of the entire

world. These films have continued to stay popular throughout the years because there are always

new nuclear threats in our world. As the world powers continue to develop new weapons, these

fears will remain. There is no way we can tell what the possible consequences of these weapons

are and that fact causes another fear. This is the exact fear that inspired the movies themselves.

We also see the fears of evolving weapons in the new movie with the way that Godzilla is able to

evolve and change to cause as much destruction possible. This is one of the major differences in

the two movies. Along with Godzillas ability to evolve, we also see differences in the filming

techniques used. The first movie was shot in black and white and didnt have very much special

effects, but the second movie was shot in color and most of the movie was done with special

effects. This also shows the change in popularity overtime and how Godzilla began to gain a
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more comic book like fan base instead of a fan base consisting of everyday people and their fears

of nuclear weapons. In all Godzilla has the same idea but is manifested by different people in

differnet ways.
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Works Cited

Godzilla. Dir. Ishiro Honda, Takeo Murata. 1954

Shin Godzilla. Dir. Hideaki Anno. Shinji Higuchi. 2016

Masland, Tom. A silent bomb. Newsweek, 24July, 1195, p. 31Expanded Academic

ASAP, libproxy.csun.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=EAIM&sw=w&u

=csunorthridge&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA17296688&it=r&asid=5b57f8d63c728a69eb8c1

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